Jeffrey Rubard
2023-02-14 20:56:07 UTC
CHAPTER 4: NATALIE
Phoenix, Arizona – Friday, December 15, 2017
As coffee shops go, Guava Java wasn't much to look at. Situated in the heart of Roosevelt Row, an arts district in downtown Phoenix, it was a sterile sliver of a retail space sandwiched between a tattoo parlor and a used bookstore. Even so, it was popular.
Professionals who walked to work liked its convenient location. Adventurous types liked its ridiculously strong espresso. Many men liked Candy, Mandy, and Jen, the buxom blondes who made lattes and cappuccinos between six and two each day.
Natalie Carson liked the establishment's reasonable prices. For that reason alone, she walked into the shop almost every morning on her way to the Pearson Building, where she worked as the consumer reporter for KZYA News.
She typically ordered a single vanilla latte. Today she ordered two. She did so because she was headed not to work but rather an apartment building four blocks away.
Natalie watched with interest as Mandy and Jen scrambled to prepare orders for half a dozen customers. She smiled when Mandy returned with her lattes and wiped her brow.
"Looks like you're busy," Natalie said. "Where's Candy?"
Mandy sighed.
"She's running late this morning."
"That's too bad," Natalie said. She reached into her purse, pulled out a bill, and stuffed it in a tip cup. "Well, here's a five for showing up. You guys do the Lord's work on weekdays."
Mandy smiled.
"Thanks."
Natalie threw the strap of her purse over her shoulder, collected her coffees, and walked out the door. As she did, she thought about Mandy and Jen — and even Candy, who had played a brief but significant role in improving her social life in 2017.
It was Candy who had gushed about Natalie's looks upon meeting her for the first time in early April. She couldn't decide whether the petite, shapely brunette looked more like Selena Gomez or that "sassy reporter" on Channel 19. The barista's idle musings provided an opening for a tall, handsome, attentive attorney standing in line behind Natalie.
"I think she looks like both," Rick Mason had said.
The comment prompted a thank you, an introduction, and a pleasant conversation that lasted well into the morning. Within a few days, Natalie and Rick were dating.
As Natalie carried her coffees to the sidewalk, turned east, and headed toward Rick's apartment, she thought about the ambitious litigator. Even after eight months, she still considered the man, a former quarterback at Arizona State, to be something of an enigma.
Though Rick had twice hinted at marriage, he had never put his cards on the table. He had never talked about moving in together, buying a home, or even juggling careers and children. He seemed as disinterested in the future as a person could be.
That, Natalie decided, was a problem. She wanted to know loudly and clearly where she stood with Rick before she even considered participating in Adam's crazy scheme.
She did not believe for a moment that time travel, if it was real, was free of risk. If she walked through that portal near Sedona on December 21, there was a good chance she would not return to 2017 or at least return as the same person. Was she ready to give up her career and the amenities of the modern world to see her parents again? Yes, she thought. She was. Was she ready to give up a promising relationship with a charismatic, intelligent, drop-dead-gorgeous lawyer? That was a different question.
Natalie had tried to obtain some answers Monday night, when she and Rick had escaped to an expensive restaurant, but she failed in more ways than one. The two did not discuss marriage, commitments, or the future but rather politics. They talked about border walls, not babies, and parted on a sour note. She went to work angry on Tuesday.
When Natalie offered to kiss and make up over dinner the next day, Rick suggested they go out Friday night instead. He said he needed time to wrap up an important case and clear his mind before turning his attention to personal matters.
Natalie agreed to postpone dinner but not postpone their next meeting. She knew that Rick usually took Friday mornings off and was almost certainly snoozing away in his sixth-floor unit. If she had to show up unannounced at seven thirty with a vanilla latte, a sexy grin, and mischief on her mind to get his mind off work, she would do it.
Five minutes later, Natalie stepped into Rick's apartment building, walked to the elevator, and pressed a button. When the door opened, she stepped back, allowed two smartly dressed women to exit the elevator, and then stepped inside.
As the elevator took her to the sixth floor in fits and starts, Natalie again thought about the remarkable and unlikely family gathering in Flagstaff and revisited her doubts. Was she really ready to do something as crazy as time travel? She found the prospect of traveling to another era both exciting and scary — but mostly scary.
Natalie could imagine meeting her parents on the other side of a time portal, but she could also imagine meeting gunslingers, bandits, and malcontents. She remembered from her high school history classes that Arizona in the nineteenth century had been a violent place — one filled with family feuds, range wars, and shootouts at not-so-OK corrals. She did not want to see her home state in its rough-and-tumble formative years.
Then again, Natalie did not really believe she would. Though she remained open to all possibilities, including those that pushed the boundaries of her imagination, she did not give equal weight to all. As a reporter and an intelligent woman, she found it far easier to believe that her parents had been robbed and killed on a dark desert trail than stripped of their freedom by the forces of time. If time travel were real, she wondered, why had others not done it and reported it? Why had they not shouted their discoveries from every hilltop?
When she finally reached the sixth floor, she stepped out of the elevator and put science fiction aside. She had a relationship to mend, or at least better define, and did not want to waste more time thinking about vortexes, gunslingers, and the Gilded Age.
Natalie walked down an empty hallway to the fifth door on the right, stopped, and lowered one coffee to the carpeted floor. Then she placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly to the right. Much to her surprise, she found the door unlocked.
Natalie considered that a good thing. She would now be able to slip into Rick's apartment and perhaps his bed and set things right before the coffee got cold. She pushed the door open, retrieved the coffee from the floor, and entered the unit.
Slowly and quietly, Natalie stepped into the living room and moved toward the bedroom. She made it about halfway when a buxom blonde, one she saw almost every morning, opened the bedroom door and froze when she saw the new arrival.
"Wow," Natalie said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "I guess what they say is true. The early bird really does get the worm."
Candy from Guava Java did not reply. She instead turned fifty shades of red, collected her purse from the sofa, and rushed out the door. She did not bother to smooth the wrinkles from a short cotton skirt that had seen some wear and tear.
Natalie did not proceed to the bedroom but rather waited for Mr. Wonderful to emerge from his lair. She did not have to wait long. A minute after the blushing barista dashed out of the apartment, Rick walked out of his bedroom in boxer shorts.
"Natalie? Why are you here?" Rick asked.
"I brought you coffee," Natalie said. She smiled at Rick. "I thought I would brighten your morning with some lattes and loving, but it appears that Candy beat me to it."
"I can explain."
Natalie laughed.
"I'm sure you can, but please don't. I want to remember you as a charming cheat and not a lying cheat. Lying cheats are so common these days."
"You don't seem surprised," Rick said.
"I guess I'm not," Natalie replied. "I should be, but I'm not."
Rick tilted his head.
"Why is that?"
Natalie placed the coffees on a nearby table.
"I'm not surprised because you just confirmed what I've suspected for a long time. You're not ready for a committed relationship. You're not ready for anything."
Rick sighed.
"I never promised monogamy."
"You're right," Natalie said. "You didn't. You didn't even promise to keep your weekends open. Like a good attorney, you left yourself some wiggle room."
Rick frowned.
"I'm sorry, Natalie. I really am."
"Don't be."
Rick snorted.
"Why do you say that?"
"I say it because you did me a favor," Natalie said. "I came here because I needed some clarity before making a very big decision — and you provided it."
"What are you talking about?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Sure it does," Rick said. "What's going on?"
Natalie paused before answering. She didn't want to spend another minute with this philandering lout, but she did want to tie up loose ends. Saying goodbye to Rick Mason was the first step toward getting her life in order and moving on to something bigger.
"I'm leaving Phoenix tomorrow and may not come back for a very long time," Natalie said. "So I guess this is as good a time as any to say goodbye."
"Where are you going?" Rick asked.
"I'm going to a place I've never been before."
"Does this place have a name?"
Natalie nodded.
"It's called the past."
Rick looked at her with puzzled eyes.
"What?"
"Don't worry about it," Natalie said. "Just tell our friends what I told you. If they ask about me, tell them I decided to spend some quality time with my family."
"All right."
"Thanks."
"Is that all?" Rick asked.
"No."
"What else do you want me to do?"
Natalie retrieved one of the coffees and approached Rick slowly and seductively. When she finally reached him, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. Then she removed the lid to the latte, poured the sticky beverage over his head, and smiled.
"I want you to remember me fondly."
Phoenix, Arizona – Friday, December 15, 2017
As coffee shops go, Guava Java wasn't much to look at. Situated in the heart of Roosevelt Row, an arts district in downtown Phoenix, it was a sterile sliver of a retail space sandwiched between a tattoo parlor and a used bookstore. Even so, it was popular.
Professionals who walked to work liked its convenient location. Adventurous types liked its ridiculously strong espresso. Many men liked Candy, Mandy, and Jen, the buxom blondes who made lattes and cappuccinos between six and two each day.
Natalie Carson liked the establishment's reasonable prices. For that reason alone, she walked into the shop almost every morning on her way to the Pearson Building, where she worked as the consumer reporter for KZYA News.
She typically ordered a single vanilla latte. Today she ordered two. She did so because she was headed not to work but rather an apartment building four blocks away.
Natalie watched with interest as Mandy and Jen scrambled to prepare orders for half a dozen customers. She smiled when Mandy returned with her lattes and wiped her brow.
"Looks like you're busy," Natalie said. "Where's Candy?"
Mandy sighed.
"She's running late this morning."
"That's too bad," Natalie said. She reached into her purse, pulled out a bill, and stuffed it in a tip cup. "Well, here's a five for showing up. You guys do the Lord's work on weekdays."
Mandy smiled.
"Thanks."
Natalie threw the strap of her purse over her shoulder, collected her coffees, and walked out the door. As she did, she thought about Mandy and Jen — and even Candy, who had played a brief but significant role in improving her social life in 2017.
It was Candy who had gushed about Natalie's looks upon meeting her for the first time in early April. She couldn't decide whether the petite, shapely brunette looked more like Selena Gomez or that "sassy reporter" on Channel 19. The barista's idle musings provided an opening for a tall, handsome, attentive attorney standing in line behind Natalie.
"I think she looks like both," Rick Mason had said.
The comment prompted a thank you, an introduction, and a pleasant conversation that lasted well into the morning. Within a few days, Natalie and Rick were dating.
As Natalie carried her coffees to the sidewalk, turned east, and headed toward Rick's apartment, she thought about the ambitious litigator. Even after eight months, she still considered the man, a former quarterback at Arizona State, to be something of an enigma.
Though Rick had twice hinted at marriage, he had never put his cards on the table. He had never talked about moving in together, buying a home, or even juggling careers and children. He seemed as disinterested in the future as a person could be.
That, Natalie decided, was a problem. She wanted to know loudly and clearly where she stood with Rick before she even considered participating in Adam's crazy scheme.
She did not believe for a moment that time travel, if it was real, was free of risk. If she walked through that portal near Sedona on December 21, there was a good chance she would not return to 2017 or at least return as the same person. Was she ready to give up her career and the amenities of the modern world to see her parents again? Yes, she thought. She was. Was she ready to give up a promising relationship with a charismatic, intelligent, drop-dead-gorgeous lawyer? That was a different question.
Natalie had tried to obtain some answers Monday night, when she and Rick had escaped to an expensive restaurant, but she failed in more ways than one. The two did not discuss marriage, commitments, or the future but rather politics. They talked about border walls, not babies, and parted on a sour note. She went to work angry on Tuesday.
When Natalie offered to kiss and make up over dinner the next day, Rick suggested they go out Friday night instead. He said he needed time to wrap up an important case and clear his mind before turning his attention to personal matters.
Natalie agreed to postpone dinner but not postpone their next meeting. She knew that Rick usually took Friday mornings off and was almost certainly snoozing away in his sixth-floor unit. If she had to show up unannounced at seven thirty with a vanilla latte, a sexy grin, and mischief on her mind to get his mind off work, she would do it.
Five minutes later, Natalie stepped into Rick's apartment building, walked to the elevator, and pressed a button. When the door opened, she stepped back, allowed two smartly dressed women to exit the elevator, and then stepped inside.
As the elevator took her to the sixth floor in fits and starts, Natalie again thought about the remarkable and unlikely family gathering in Flagstaff and revisited her doubts. Was she really ready to do something as crazy as time travel? She found the prospect of traveling to another era both exciting and scary — but mostly scary.
Natalie could imagine meeting her parents on the other side of a time portal, but she could also imagine meeting gunslingers, bandits, and malcontents. She remembered from her high school history classes that Arizona in the nineteenth century had been a violent place — one filled with family feuds, range wars, and shootouts at not-so-OK corrals. She did not want to see her home state in its rough-and-tumble formative years.
Then again, Natalie did not really believe she would. Though she remained open to all possibilities, including those that pushed the boundaries of her imagination, she did not give equal weight to all. As a reporter and an intelligent woman, she found it far easier to believe that her parents had been robbed and killed on a dark desert trail than stripped of their freedom by the forces of time. If time travel were real, she wondered, why had others not done it and reported it? Why had they not shouted their discoveries from every hilltop?
When she finally reached the sixth floor, she stepped out of the elevator and put science fiction aside. She had a relationship to mend, or at least better define, and did not want to waste more time thinking about vortexes, gunslingers, and the Gilded Age.
Natalie walked down an empty hallway to the fifth door on the right, stopped, and lowered one coffee to the carpeted floor. Then she placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly to the right. Much to her surprise, she found the door unlocked.
Natalie considered that a good thing. She would now be able to slip into Rick's apartment and perhaps his bed and set things right before the coffee got cold. She pushed the door open, retrieved the coffee from the floor, and entered the unit.
Slowly and quietly, Natalie stepped into the living room and moved toward the bedroom. She made it about halfway when a buxom blonde, one she saw almost every morning, opened the bedroom door and froze when she saw the new arrival.
"Wow," Natalie said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "I guess what they say is true. The early bird really does get the worm."
Candy from Guava Java did not reply. She instead turned fifty shades of red, collected her purse from the sofa, and rushed out the door. She did not bother to smooth the wrinkles from a short cotton skirt that had seen some wear and tear.
Natalie did not proceed to the bedroom but rather waited for Mr. Wonderful to emerge from his lair. She did not have to wait long. A minute after the blushing barista dashed out of the apartment, Rick walked out of his bedroom in boxer shorts.
"Natalie? Why are you here?" Rick asked.
"I brought you coffee," Natalie said. She smiled at Rick. "I thought I would brighten your morning with some lattes and loving, but it appears that Candy beat me to it."
"I can explain."
Natalie laughed.
"I'm sure you can, but please don't. I want to remember you as a charming cheat and not a lying cheat. Lying cheats are so common these days."
"You don't seem surprised," Rick said.
"I guess I'm not," Natalie replied. "I should be, but I'm not."
Rick tilted his head.
"Why is that?"
Natalie placed the coffees on a nearby table.
"I'm not surprised because you just confirmed what I've suspected for a long time. You're not ready for a committed relationship. You're not ready for anything."
Rick sighed.
"I never promised monogamy."
"You're right," Natalie said. "You didn't. You didn't even promise to keep your weekends open. Like a good attorney, you left yourself some wiggle room."
Rick frowned.
"I'm sorry, Natalie. I really am."
"Don't be."
Rick snorted.
"Why do you say that?"
"I say it because you did me a favor," Natalie said. "I came here because I needed some clarity before making a very big decision — and you provided it."
"What are you talking about?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Sure it does," Rick said. "What's going on?"
Natalie paused before answering. She didn't want to spend another minute with this philandering lout, but she did want to tie up loose ends. Saying goodbye to Rick Mason was the first step toward getting her life in order and moving on to something bigger.
"I'm leaving Phoenix tomorrow and may not come back for a very long time," Natalie said. "So I guess this is as good a time as any to say goodbye."
"Where are you going?" Rick asked.
"I'm going to a place I've never been before."
"Does this place have a name?"
Natalie nodded.
"It's called the past."
Rick looked at her with puzzled eyes.
"What?"
"Don't worry about it," Natalie said. "Just tell our friends what I told you. If they ask about me, tell them I decided to spend some quality time with my family."
"All right."
"Thanks."
"Is that all?" Rick asked.
"No."
"What else do you want me to do?"
Natalie retrieved one of the coffees and approached Rick slowly and seductively. When she finally reached him, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. Then she removed the lid to the latte, poured the sticky beverage over his head, and smiled.
"I want you to remember me fondly."